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Record-setting Bush fundraising drive nears climax

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush's lavish campaign fund-raising drive neared its record-shattering climax on Wednesday at a Washington hotel where over 1,000 Bush supporters forked over $1.5 million for a salmon dinner.

The Republican president, who is waging a hard fought election battle against Democrat John Kerry, used his appearance to accuse the Massachusetts senator of being a waffler and an old-line tax-and-spend Democrat.

"He's been in Washington long enough to take both sides of every issue," Bush said to guffaws from supporters, who paid $2,000 a plate to attend. "If he could find a third side, I imagine he'd take that one too."

Bush is expected to wind up a nine-month nationwide fund-raising drive next week, when he speaks to campaign donors at a Charlotte, North Carolina, event that had to be postponed from February because of a blizzard.

Analysts believe Bush has already reached or exceeded his $170 million fund-raising target for the 2004 race -- a level that would shatter the $100 million record he set during his 2000 contest against Democrat Al Gore.

Bush had raised $158.2 million by the end of February, according to official campaign disclosure documents.

Wednesday night's dinner was the 138th event since the Bush campaign hit the fund-raising trail on June 17, 2003, with its hierarchy of "Rangers" and "Pioneers" -- titles of honor awarded to Bush supporters who raise at least $200,000 and $100,000, respectively, for the campaign.

Since then, Bush has been raking in money at a rate of $4.1 million per week, $601,048 per day, $25,043 per hour or $417.40 per minute, according to Public Citizen, a nonprofit watchdog that operates the Web site www.whitehouseforsale.org.

"They've got so much money that they're not really sure what to do with it. It's going to buy a lot of television ads. But there are only so many television ads to buy," said Craig Aaron, a senior researcher at Public Citizen.

Analysts say Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will soon shift their fund-raising efforts to focus primarily on aiding other Republicans including those running for Congress.

Already, the president was due to appear on Thursday at a fund-raiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee that was expected to raise $5 million for Republicans running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, Bush made his fund-raising appearance hours after his campaign accused Kerry of conspiring illegally with groups including the anti-Bush organization, MoveOn.org, to spend unregulated soft money and coordinate their advertising.

The MoveOn.org Voter Fund and others such as the Media Fund have pledged to raise millions in individual contributions and spend it to help counter a $100 million cash advantage that Bush held over Kerry at the end of last month.

The latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll showed Bush leading Kerry 51 percent to 47 percent with a three percentage-point margin of error.

Analysts say aggressive TV ads have helped Bush gain ground on Kerry, despite unfavorable publicity on Medicare and former White House counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke's allegations about the president's readiness to combat terrorism before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. (Additional reporting by Cheyenne Hopkins)